Jakarta – Acclaimed author Pramoedya Ananta Toer spent much of his life alone, in his solitary art, his years of imprisonment and also as an unyielding voice proclaiming what made the archipelago a nation today.
Yet he did not die alone Sunday morning, surrounded by family and his circle of loyal friends at his home in Utan Kayu, East Jakarta. Author Goenawan Mohammad, writer Martin Aleida, cultural observer Mudji Sutrisno, Solahuddin Wahid, politician Budiman Sudjatmiko, journalist Fikri Jufri, Cultural and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik and fellow political prisoner Oey Hay Djoen were among the friends who were at his home and later attended the funeral in Karet Cemetery.
Pramoedya, who was 81, suffered for many weeks from advanced complications of diabetes, high-blood pressure and lung problems. He was admitted to St. Carolus Hospital on Thursday night, and went into a coma Friday morning. When he regained consciousness the following afternoon, he demanded to be allowed to return home.
Pramoedya, affectionately called Pak Pram, was born in Blora, Central Java, on Feb. 6, 1925, the son of a teacher and a rice seller. He grew up to be true man of letters, an accomplished journalist, essayist and especially novelist. His works – including the Buru Quartet and Nyanyi Seorang Bisu (The Mute's Soliloquy) – have been translated into nearly 40 languages, garnering international acclaim and leading to nominations for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The ravages of aging – he was visually impaired and almost deaf in his later years – did not diminish his deep, strongly voiced convictions. As well as his many faithful supporters, his obstinacy accrued enemies, including within the local literary community, who disliked him and his politics.
Imprisoned during the finals days of Dutch colonialism in the late 1940s, and again by the Sukarno administration in 1959, he was incarcerated on notorious Buru island for political prisoners from 1965 to 1979. The latter was due to alleged communist sympathies from his involvement in Lekra, a leftist cultural organization prominent in the 1960s.
He had totally stopped writing, except "for signing checks", he quipped, since 2000. After Buru, he largely spent his days making clippings to finish his ambitious Indonesian encyclopedia project because, he said, "no Indonesian pays enough attention to their own homeland".
"I don't think anyone can ever stress enough the important role he played in the creation of Indonesia as a concept, as a nation," John McGlynn, a translator of many of Pramoedya's works into English and the founder of the Lontar Foundation, said Sunday. "... he saw Indonesia as a nation. He took on the role as an educator, teaching his fellow Indonesians that there is a place called Indonesia."
In public events, Pramoedya, whose father was an ardent nationalist, always reminded the younger generation that the most important event in Indonesian history was Sumpah Pemuda (Youth Oath) in 1928, the foundation of Indonesia from a divided, far-flung archipelago into one nation.
"Pram admired Soekarno, because he saw how Soekarno united 17,000 islands into one nation," leftist author Martin Aleida said. "But what I think was most admirable in Pram's personality was his staunch belief in personal freedom, a conviction frowned upon by his leftist community."
Pramoedya, who is survived by wife Maemunah Thamrin, eight children and several grandchildren, received many international awards, including from France, Japan and Norway. The Indonesian government, wary of a backlash from those who disliked the author, never bestowed any honors on him.
Today, his books are available, although a ban on some has yet to be officially lifted. Still, no imprisonment or official cold shoulder could deny his powerful storytelling.
"I saw at his home today that (Vice President) Jusuf Kalla sent flowers and Minister Jero Wacik came to his house," Budiman Sudjatmiko said. "The funeral was sad, but at the end of the day, I think Pram triumphed in his battles."